We tried another great restaurant with Ahmed this weekend, this time a beautiful place called Abu El Sid.  Last time I was in Cairo we tried quite a few times to go to Abu El Sid but always forgot to make reservations and could never get in.  Well, I finally made it!  Abu El Sid features oriental decor (anything that is more traditional/stereotypically-Arab is called "oriental" here), traditional Egyptian dishes such as rabbit with molekheya and tomato sauce, roasted and spiced quail (which Justin couldn't get enough of), delicious lentil soup (my only option ;) ), stuffed pigeon and Circassian Chicken.  Also delicious shisha and a drink (I can't remember what it's called right now!) made of sugar cane juice!  Umm delcious.  I've posted a few picture below.  The creamy dish is the Circasian Chicken which a centuries old recipe featuring chicken in a spiced cream sauce on a bed of rice.  It was dark and I didn't want to disturb other people in the restaurant with my flashes so the pics below are a little blurry/dark! 

I'm sure we've mentioned our friend Nada, who we actually met while trying to grab a taxi to Zamalek.  It was during our first week here, all the cabs were refusing to go to Zamalek, and as she was also trying to get to Zamalek so we shared a cab. She's super sweet and welcoming and inclusive and has since invited us to join her and her friends at Sakia al Sawy quite a few times.  I'm not sure exactly how to describe Sakia... it's a local culture center, but it's mostly live bands that are the big draw. They also have art shows and currently for Ramadan there's a little fair every night. 

I just got off the phone with my Grandma and although this has nothing to do with Egypt I just don't want to forget. My Grandma turned 74 yesterday. I called her today because I'm messed up with the days and thought it was her birthday today. She informed me that "Yesterday sucked. So it's better you called today because today was a good day." Yesterday she was on the phone with Medicare forever arguing about medical supplies she's used for ages that they now require a prescription for. Today, for her birthday, she hired a limo to take her and her 9 other friends of 56 years to my Uncle's pub. This is the part I don't want to forget. My grandma met these friends of hers when she was 18 years old and they formed a card club. They meet once a month to play cards, and once a month to go to lunch for birthdays that month. They've got 43 children between the 10 of them, goodness knows how many grandkids. Through the years they've only missed the monthly card club get-togethers for unavoidable distractions like travel or childbirth. My grandma says the first time she missed card club was when she was giving birth to my mom, her firstborn.

The weekend before last we went to Seqouia which has to be one of my favorite restaurants in Egypt. It is right on the Nile, open to the breezes during summer (like now! we watched the moon traverse the sky as the evening passed), in a cozy tent during the winter, with delicious food, fresh juices (mango juice has hunks of fresh mango in it!) and beautiful ambiance. Best of all: Seqouia has DELICIOUS shisha (hookah, hubbly bubbly). Apparently grape flavor is popular now, I did try it and it's yummy, but I stuck with my old favorite Mixed Fruit (Fakhfakhina or Cocktail). Going back to Seqouia, though, was really just an excuse to see a friend I hadn't seen since I was last in Egypt: Ahmed. I was so glad to see Ahmed again, and only he was able to swing us reservations at Seqouia on a weekend night during Ramadan! Also with us was Tegan, a friend from ASU who is studying abroad at AUC for the year. She and I met through COAR nearly four years ago now. While at Sequoia Justin and Ahmed enjoyed a good game of Tawla (Backgammon).

The other night, I met Cara at the US Embassy to catch a bus to the Citadel for an Iftar hosted by the Fulbright office. In addition to wonderful food, an incredible view, and good company, we also were treated to a contemporary-traditional puppet show and shadow theatre (of which I understood zilch), and some incredible Sufi dancing. Sufi dancing (aka whirling dervishes) is the signature of mystical sect of Sunni Islam. The dance is meant to bring the audience, through the dancers, closer to the creator. So there is lots of symbolism in the dance, for example, with the right arm raised toward the heavens and the left arm toward the earth, etc. Pictures below :) We also took some video, which I will clean up and post before long, too.